More than 1 in 3 Americans are now considered prediabetic

I came across two memorable articles this week, the first being "Assuming You'll Retire Healthy is an Expensive Mistake." It was about a recent report released by the UK's Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) that found that only 9% of men and 16% of women will retire in good health. The second article was "Diet and Exercise Alone Won't Help You Live Longer - You Have to Do Both." It was about a study released this month (July 2022) that found that people that both exercised and ate a healthy diet were less likely to die of heart disease and cancer. That seems pretty Captain Obvious, I suppose, but it's actually a really important point. Being satisfied with your weight and fitness goals does not make you healthy. Outward does not equate to inward. I spoke with an endocrinologist after my diagnosis and she asked about how often I went to the doctor. "Basically never," I honestly told her. I just went to the dentist twice a year and the gynecologist once annually. When I was in the depths of DKA in August of 2018 but didn't know it, I actually called my family's PCP and wanted to get in right away because I was feeling so off, but they said no because I hadn't been there in eight years. Fortunately, it ended up being where that rejection was God's protection because I went straight to the hospital. I told the endocrinologist that I was probably in this mess because I didn't get annual primary care check-ups. "Well, I doubt anyone would ever look for diabetes based on your BMI," she responded. Now I think about what a serious shame that is. There was a Medscape article that came up in my inbox a few months ago regarding a May 2022 paper that exhibited the importance of beginning to screen for diabetes at normal BMIs to avoid missed opportunities for early intervention. This shift in perspective is crucial. I have already made it known on this blog that HOMA-IR testing beginning at an early age would be a pivotal measure for the health of this planet. Writing verbatim off of the CDC/AMA/Ad Council November 4, 2021 press release 88 Million Americans at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Can Change Their Outcome: "In the United States, some 88 million Americans - more than 1 in 3 - are living with prediabetes, and more than 84% don't even know they have it. Prediabetes can increase a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Research shows that once people are made aware of their condition, they are more likely to make the necessary long-term lifestyle changes, such as eating healthier, managing weight, and being active, that can help prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes." 

Children, who are being fed far too much sugar and processed carbohydrates, are being hospitalized at double the rate for new-onset pediatric Type 2 diabetes, according to a 2021 post by the American Diabetes Association. This has to be steered in part by this country's $300 billion fast food market, the product of billions upon billions of factory-farmed animals horrendously packed like sardines and loaded with antibiotics. Every time I see that "Billions and Billions Served" sign it makes me nauseous, not hungry. An E.E. Cummings poem line comes to mind when I drive by all the fast food sprawl: Pity this busy monster, manunkind, not. But I do pity us. And I just wonder how in the world did we go from having our own beautiful land and growing our own food to eating animals imprisoned in minuscule factory farm steel cells from disposable containers?

The first article about very few making it to retirement in good health just made me sad. It made me think of that Verve song Bittersweet Symphony. Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to money, then you die. A January 2022 article by the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation was titled "Dementia Cases to Nearly Triple Worldwide by 2050." According to the article, approximately 152 million people will have Alzheimer's disease (aka Type 3 diabetes) by 2050. That's a lot of people who won't even remember all the hard work they put in to get where they are, all of the immense effort made over the years for their families. Furthermore, a great deal of the money that was so arduously earned throughout a lifetime could vanish with the high cost of the care required in Alzheimer's disease management. It's an excruciating way to die.

I was looking for music to add to my Apple library the other day and saw I missed when Matt Bellamy released some songs last year in an album called Cryosleep. One of the songs is a softer, piano-only version of Muse's Take a Bow. One section of the lyrics particularly struck me listening to it now:

Our freedom's consuming itself

What we've become

Is contrary to what we want

What we now deem to be our "freedom" is undoubtedly consuming itself. Our indifferent relationship to the Earth, mindless, convenience-driven consumerism, and addiction to sugar and unhealthy foods are giving rise only to extreme dystopian confinement and cataclysmic demise. A metamorphosis is imperative.